Duel:Malyne v Xunzyr, Match 1 of the Inaugural Warrior's Guild Tournament

Duelists: Malyne vs. Xunzyr. 
Duel: Traditional 3 posts each, with final defense. 15 minute posting limit. 
Stakes: Autohit post. Advancement in the Inaugural Warrior's Guild Tournament. 
Judges: Emrith, Hildegarde & Leone

Snowless Training Yard

Leone said, "Welcome to the Inaugural Tournament of Warriors! Here we gather in the arena of Frostmaw to watch two noble warriors do battle. The arena's orbs have been tweaked and turned to precisely the right calibration until the scenery is wholly alien. A series of rocky pillars, arranged in a vast oval, consume the dimensions of the arena. A glance down will yield nothing but the bluing mist of distance, the soft peach hue of a sandstone canyon eventually fading into black. There is no floor. The tops of the pillars are all different sizes, ranging from less than a foot square to several yards wide. Some of them vary in height, though are never more than six feet above or below the next. Each of them are within leaping distance of their neighbors around the circumference of the oval, for a normal human. There are sudden but continuous wind shears and the glare of a setting sun to compound matters. Good luck to both Xunzyr and Malyne!"

Xunzyr looks on grimly as the arena seems to dissolve into a series of scattered pillars, leaving him standing atop one with his half-elven opponent some ways across. The assassin offers no taunt or wish of luck to Malyne as he begins his approach, darting forth on his lead leg and nimbly leaping from one pillar to the next, his snowy white hair and ebon cloak whipping about in protest as the occasional gust of wind sweeps into the modified arena. The drow spends little more than a few moments upon each pillar, enough for his booted feet to gain purchase and ensure that one of those howling gusts doesn’t send him into the misty abyss below. Finally reaching a pillar adjacent to the draconian, Xunzyr surreptitiously reaches into one of the many hidden pockets of his cloak, retrieving some sort of unseen implement from within. The tension mounts rapidly as the two combatants finally near, with the drow kicking off the last pillar to invade Malyne’s own, landing there with predatory grace. A soft ‘crack’ is all that is heard before Xunzyr’s hand is cast forth, revealing a fine mist of some sort of caustic mixture that seeks out the eyes of his foe. Trusting that she’ll be blinded, the assassin hastily draws a pair of daggers and brings them to bear, cutting low at her legs and stabbing high at her shoulder in rapid succession. At the tail end of the combo comes a snapping headbutt, poised to crush his hopefully blinded adversary’s nose in an instant.

Malyne watches, much like her drow opponent, as the floor dissolves into a series of pillars. While her opponent is making his way towards her, she spends the time studying the new terrain, feeling the wind in her wings, swaying her tail as needed to keep her balance in the gusts. She nods to herself, assuring herself of knowing how to proceed. Attention is shifted to her opponent, waiting patiently as the drow makes his way towards her pillar, watching that hand tuck momentarily into a pocket. She knows something is about to come, and with what knowledge she has of the drow race, she suspects it is not something typically used in fair play. She is hardly disappointed as he throws out that burning mist. She issues a reptilian hiss from between humanoid teeth, wings flapping frantically in an attempt to clear the stuff from her face. It helps, but only marginally. Eyes stinging, she sets her spear to spinning, haphazardly using it in effort to deflect the strikes she knows that are coming. The blow to her legs is thwarted, but the stab to her shoulder manages to slide between the thick, bone-like scales protecting the joint, biting and drawing first blood. With a growl she pulls back, just in time to pull her head away from that headbutt. She has to make space. One step back, another, and then she's at the ledge. It's like fighting on a cliff, she reminds herself. She forces herself to take the offensive, sending her spear into a series of twirling attacks, the butt snapping out towards the drow's shins before the bladed tip comes swinging about in a shorthanded slash level with Xunzyr's chest. Retreat is her best option, and so once again wings are spread, great flaps sending her airborne. She has to fight the gusts of wind, but she makes her way to the next pillar over.

Xunzyr abandons melee quarters instantly when Malyne brings the spear into play, retreating toward the precarious ledge in an instant. The butt of the polearm manages a mild blow against his shin, nearly enough to disturb his balance, but by the time the slash comes the assassin has both daggers up and deflects the blade of the spear, shoving it aside with a mild grunt of exertion. Seeing his winged foe flying toward the next pillar, Xunzyr narrows a single emerald eye and snaps a single arm out, sending one of his precious daggers singing through the air. The gusts of wind disturb the flight of the wicked projectile, but that simply means that it etches out at one of her wings rather than her throat as initially targeted. Knowing another leap to Malyne’s chosen pillar is ill advised with her possessing a rangy spear, the assassin sheathes his other dagger and hastily retreves a blowpipe from his cloak. Already fitted with darts, Xunzyr brings the dastardly implements to his lips and issues a short puff of breath, spitting the tiny projectiles toward Malyne with heart stopping speed and assumed precision. The process is repeated until a trio of darts are singing through the air, no doubt laced with pernicious poison. The wind is indeed hazardous to their flight, but they still manage to fly in such a way that leaves their threat rather certain to the draconic half-elf.

Malyne felt that wicked dagger slice through the membrane of her wing, but thankfully the tear is not enough to disrupt the lift provided by the great limbs. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, though, and it takes some effort to block the pain from her mind. So it is that she's set on the defensive, curling into herself to shield herself with as much of her sparse scales as possible. Tick-tick-tick the darts sound as they strike against those bony, silver protrusions, falling away to the pillar floor instead of taking purchase in the intended fleshy soft spots of her body. With the drow still on the other pillar, she has to make her way back to him if she wants to attack. Forward she goes, setting her toes against the edge of the pillar to push off and help her trajectory back to the original pillar. Wind buffets her, knocking her off course, her foot slamming against the side of the pillar instead of atop it upon initial contact. She staggers onto the pillar, her foot smarting as much as her wing now as she thrust forward with her spear not once but twice in rapid succession, groin and stomach the intended targets. With another step forward onto her good foot, the draconian begins to spin, bringing her thick, powerful tail into play as she seeks to smash the hard, scaled side of her tail into the drow's knee.

Xunzyr clicks his tongue when the darts bounce off rather harmlessly, putting the pipe away and observing his foe’s winged approach. The assassin is not so stupid as to stand and wait while Malyne gets her footing upon it, however, and by the time she staggers the drow is already mid leap. Unfortunately for him, however, a wind shear comes and drastically alters his momentum! Instead of a sound landing as initially planned, Xunzyr is forced to snap both hands out and grasp at the edge of the pillar rather desperately, the muscles in his wiry arms straining as they aid him in ascending to safe ground. Shaken but hardly beaten, the assassin turns and reaches into his cloak, retrieving another unseen device…or unseen until it is cast toward Malyne’s pillar, anyway. Luckily no shears of wind disturb its path, and it rolls along the surface and instantly erupts in a choking cloud of smoke, no doubt comprised with all manner of implements. Again the drow reaches into his cloak, unveiling a small crossbow; the last clandestine weapon for the evening. Fitting a bolt into the device, Xunzyr takes aim at the general direction of the pillar and simply squeezes the trigger, sending it knifing through the air toward the draconian. A second is hastily fitted and fired as well, joining its sibling some feet behind. A shear of wind suddenly tears through the space between the two pillars, but sadly for Malyne, their flight seems unperturbed. A faint gleam can be seen across the shafts of these bolts, and one assumes that some mild enchantment is present that ensures their flight is true and unhindered…

Malyne finds herself disappointed by the drow's immediate flight. With her strikes going through nothing but air, and her spin having her back towards the drow during his initial firing of his crossbow, it's too late for her to do anything about the firing of the weapon. Luckily for her, the drow hasn't aimed at anything in particular to immediate notice, but still, it's a crossbow. The first bolt bites through her calf as she completes her skin, bringing a pained yelp from her throat. Her momentum carries her the rest of the way, her legs spread just enough for balance that the second bolt only grazes the other shin, guarded by another set of bony scales. With the bolt through her calf causing pain to outweigh the light slice in her other leg, she hardly notices that wound. She knows, however, that she cannot close with the drow now. With the wind, she has no guarantee to use flight to her advantage. And so she does the only thing she can think of. She prays, a quick prayer to Arkhen to aid in her coming assault. Her breath is ragged at this point, pain making her want to black out, but she suffers through it enough to pull her spear back, point set straight at the drow. She puts as much power behind throwing her spear as she can, the weapon taking on a soft glow as holy energy envelopes the weapon, the imbued magics cutting through the buffeting winds to assist in the forward movement. Only at the very end of its flight does it budge from a lethal trajectory, instead poised to sink into Xunzyr's body just to the side of his stomach.

Xunzyr smirks as Malyne makes no effort to fly to his pillar, believing that the draconian is likely growing frustrated from her inability to catch up with him. Perhaps arrogantly, the assassin simply waits while the half-elf prays to her god and readies her spear for a throw; when it finally comes he withdraws into a defensive stance, coiled back like a cobra ready to strike. Normally this would be a rather simple attack to dodge for one so nimble and lithe such as he, but that damnable wind! Another shear sweeps in just as he begins to move, and he sways about almost comically. He ends up in a sort of spin and the edge of the spear knives into the flesh at his side, issuing forth a crimson spray from the wound. He’s not impaled, but this is quite a wound to be so glancing. He ends up toppled upon the ground of the pillar with the spear landing not far from him, rivulets of blood trickling and staining the surface below. He glowers at Malyne from here, grunting and making to his knees at the battle seemingly comes to a temporary close.

Winner: Xunzyr

Xunzyr makes to his feet despite the blood trickling from his side, instilled with a fresh determination to properly close this duel. With a running start, a lucky shear of wind at his back sends him to Malyne's pillar in mock flight, instantly lunging forth in a headbutt just as he did when the duel initially commenced. This time the draconian is not so lucky; a fount of blood spurts from her surely broken nose and Xunzyr instantly snaps a hammering kick to her midsection, sending her teetering on the precarious edge and finally spilling off into the mists below. Whether she lives or dies is not a concern of the drow, nor does he celebrate the possibility; instead he merely turns and takes his leave, taking calculated leaps across the pillars until he has left the arena.